Wireless communication systems, such as cellular and personal communication systems, have become increasingly popular. Years ago, subscriber cost of owning a wireless communication device (e.g., a cellular telephone), which included the hardware and the service plan provided by the wireless carrier, was quite high. As the cost of ownership has decreased, the number of wireless communication system users has increased.
The widespread popularity of wireless communications has lead to intense competition in the marketplace. Wireless carriers heavily advertise and structure multiple, differentiated service plans to entice customers to subscribe to their service(s). This competition has also increased price pressure on wireless carriers, thereby driving wireless carriers to find more and more efficient business practices.
One major source of cost for wireless carriers are the interconnection charges incurred when routing wireless calls through landline networks. For example, when a wireless subscriber places a call directed outside his/her local access and transport area (i.e., an inter-LATA call), a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) receives the call information from the wireless communication device (e.g., the subscriber's cellular telephone). The MTSO routes the call through dedicated access lines (DALs) to a long distance carrier (LD), which may also be referred to as an interexchange carrier (IXC). In the alternative, DALs may not be present and the MTSO may route the call to the LD or IXC via a first local exchange carrier (LEC). The LD, in turn, routes the call into a second LEC over direct end office trunks (DEOTs) or access tandem trunks. The connection from the LD to the LEC causes the LD to incur terminating access charges for the use of the LEC. The LD may pass these terminating charges to a wireless carrier, which may, in turn, pass the terminating charges onto the wireless subscriber. These charges are either borne by the LD or passed on to the wireless carrier, thereby reducing profitability of the wireless carrier. If the charges are further passed to a wireless subscriber, such charges affect the subscriber usage cost and, in turn, possibly affect the subscriber's value perception of the service subscription.